Roxanne Pagniello, 53, of Danbury, goes through a pre-trip check list, before making a practice run of her bus route Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Pagniello is starting her second year as a school bus driver for Student Transportation of America in Danbury. She'll be driving Danbury High School kids as well as students from two elementary schools. less

Roxanne Pagniello, 53, of Danbury, goes through a pre-trip check list, before making a practice run of her bus route Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Pagniello is starting her second year as a school bus driver for ... more

Roxanne Pagniello, 53, of Danbury, goes through a pre-trip check list, before making a practice run of her bus route Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Pagniello is starting her second year as a school bus driver for Student Transportation of America in Danbury. She'll be driving Danbury High School kids as well as students from two elementary schools. less

Roxanne Pagniello, 53, of Danbury, goes through a pre-trip check list, before making a practice run of her bus route Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Pagniello is starting her second year as a school bus driver for ... more

Roxanne Pagniello, 53, of Danbury, goes through a pre-trip check list, before making a practice run of her bus route Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Pagniello is starting her second year as a school bus driver for Student Transportation of America in Danbury. She'll be driving Danbury High School kids as well as students from two elementary schools. less

Roxanne Pagniello, 53, of Danbury, goes through a pre-trip check list, before making a practice run of her bus route Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Pagniello is starting her second year as a school bus driver for ... more

Roxanne Pagniello, 53, of Danbury, goes on a practice run of her bus route Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Pagniello is starting her second year as a school bus driver for Student Transportation of America in Danbury. She'll be driving Danbury High School kids as well as students from two elementary schools. less

Roxanne Pagniello, 53, of Danbury, goes on a practice run of her bus route Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Pagniello is starting her second year as a school bus driver for Student Transportation of America in Danbury. ... more

Big yellow buses will begin to dominate the early morning roadways when schools in the area open starting Monday.

The days of kids walking to school are nearly gone, except in the urban settings, such as Danbury, which still has a couple of downtown schools with large numbers of walkers.

So most area towns transport students by bus, with a few getting rides from parents and some driving themselves. That means across the state as many as 500,000 children will get to school in the 7,683 iconic yellow buses registered in the state.

Danbury is the largest district, with about 8,336 of its public school students on board starting Tuesday and another 1,008 from the nonpublic schools.

To get students to school on time takes coordination, flexibility and a computer system that helps design the bus routes, Danbury Transportation Coordinator Melanie Lucas said Friday.

Danbury contracts with Student Transportation of America and has 25 mini-buses and 68 large buses that deliver students.

More Information

Fast facts
More than 475,000 school buses transport 24 million students nationally.
In Connecticut, 7,683 school buses serve about 500,000 students.
For information on district's school bus service record, go to http://www.ct.gov/dmv/cwp/, click on "commercial vehicles," then "reports."
Follow the rules
Drivers:
Watch for children in neighborhoods with school zones. Children are unpredictable.
Watch for children playing and gathering near school bus stops.
Stop in both directions when a bus stops and puts on red stop sign and lights.
Maximum $450 fine for driving through red lights
Rules for students:
Be at bus stop at least 5 minutes before bus is scheduled to arrive.
Stand at least 6 feet away from the edge of the road.
Wait until bus stops, the door opens, and the driver says that it is OK before stepping onto the bus or crossing street to get on bus.
Wait for driver's signal before crossing road.
Cross at least 10 feet in front of the school bus.
Remain seated when bus is moving. Don't put hands, arms, head or any object out the window of a bus.
Sources: school districts, CT Department of Motor Vehicles, Student Transportation of America web site

"We're ready to go, with bus routes printed out for all the schools, but we'll continue to change them as students register," Lucas said. "We're 90 percent there, but there is always a margin of error."

With the city's 39 percent mobility rate, it means students move from school to school within the city, Lucas said, so finalizing routes can be tough.

"The first two weeks of school is challenging for everyone," she said. "There are new kindergartners and students entering middle school for the first time."

Routes are amended each year to help the youngest children, so a bus stop might be moved closer to a kindergarten student's house, which makes a fifth-grader on the same street walk farther.

"We try to have as few stops as possible without compromising safety," Lucas said.

Newtown starts Tuesday with a new contract with All-Star Transportation, which has contracts in area towns that include Sherman, Brookfield, New Milford and Kent.

Its 50 buses will serve 5,800 students as the district transitions for the first time from all private buses to the All-Star contract.

"We have all new equipment," All-Star manager Ed Bryan said Friday. "It is a transition and there will be some issues and we will handle them as they come up."

Among the new drivers are some former Newtown drivers, as well as retired Newtown residents and local mothers with children, which usually make up the core of bus drivers, he said.

All-Star safety supervisor Anita Yarrish issued a plea for New Milford, which has about 70 buses to serve its 4,500 students. She said Route 7 can be confusing for people trying to follow the rules for stopping for buses.

Drivers must stop when the bus' red stop sign comes out and the light flashes, which is when the bus' door opens. There is a maximum $450 fine for passing the bus illegally in Connecticut.

The law requires that drivers traveling both sides of the highway must stop, even on four lane roads, which is what Route 7 is for much of its stretch south, Yarrish said. The only exception is on divided highways, like the section of Route 7 with its grass partition by Faith Church, she said. Those drivers across the divider don't need to stop.

"People need to have a little patience," Yarrish said. "It could be their kid or grandkid getting off the bus. We're trying to be on time. We're watching the kids and the cars and the trains. When you are in a bus, every sense is on. You're not just sitting there. You're engaged 100 percent of the time."

The New Milford school district is researching the idea of adding cameras that would be mounted on the bus' red stop sign and capture cars that pass illegally, said Gregg Miller, New Milford's director of fiscal services.

There would be no cost to the district. It would be a partnership with the district, the local police department, the state and the company that owns the camera technology to split the fines, he said.